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Cyprus negotiation sources believe an agreement could be reached by January
07/11/2011
Secretary-general of UN talks about “encouraging progress” in order to turn the island into a binational federation · Turkey threatens to boycott the Cyprus presidency of the EU if the is no agreement before July · Negotiations are held in the framework of increasingly changing relations between Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Turkey in Eastern Mediterranean
An agreement on the political future of Cyprus could be near, if informations emerging from the meeting held in New York on 31st October and 1st November between Cypriot leaders and the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, are to be believed. Ban has referred to "encouraging progress" in negotiations held by Demetris Christofias, president of Cyprus, and Derviş Eroğlu, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a country that is only recognised by Turkey. "Both leaders have assured me that they believe that they can finalize a deal" on the main issues of the conflict before January, Ban said.
Cyprus Mail quotes sources close to negotiations that corroborate Ban's version and that acknowledge that a deal was never before so close.
An agreement should culminate in a new federal Cypriot constitution. The country would consist of a Greek Cypriot state in the south and centre of the island, and a Turkish Cypriot state in the north. The new Cyprus would have a single citizenship and a single international representation. In exchange, Turkish Cypriots would receive a large autonomy and would have right of veto on those issues directly affecting them.
Threat of Turkish boycott against Cyprus presidency of the EU
The threat by the Turkish government against the Cyprus presidency of the Council of the European Union, to start in July 2012, is to be found in the background of these negotiations. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said in July that it was an option to "freeze ties with the EU presidency" if no deal had been reached before Cypriots assumed the post. Turkish minister for EU, Egemen Bağış, has recalled that any deal in Cyprus should be "based on political equality" between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots.
Nevertheless, there is still an even deeper background: changing international relations in Eastern Mediterranean. Israel, Cyprus and Greece are strengthening their cooperation on the exploitation of natural gas production wells near Cypriot and Israeli shores. This year, Israeli and Cypriot governments have discussed the possibility to lay a gas pipeline from Israeli wells to the Greek coast through Cypriot waters. These new relations are against the interests of Turkey, until recently Israel's close ally.
Ankara is not satisfied at all with these news. Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has dubbed the exploitation of gas by Cyprus and Israel as "madness" and "sabotatge" against the negotiations between Christofias and Eroğlu. According to Erdoğan, the exploitation of gas should not be done while an agreement betweek Greek and Turkish Cypriots has not been reached. In any case, Ankara wants the Turkish Cypriot authorities to receive a share of income from gas exploitation, although the wells are in front of the southern Cyprus shore, that is, in the Greek Cypriot sector.
On the other hand, the Turkish government does not like either the idea of the Israel-Greece pipeline, because it could become an alternative for the supply of gas to southern Europe to Turkish-backed project Nabucco.
